Tuesday, May 17, 2011

WE’RE BUILDING A STORAGE SHED

Balsam Root covers the hillsides in the semi desert dry belt north of Vernon, BC

Looking down the Balmoral Valley toward Mt Ida and Salmon Arm. This is less than two miles from where we are parked at Little White Lake

Our new storage shed under construction

Life continues to roar along for us with hardly a break it seems. We have started building our storage shed with much help from son in law Kevin. To get loose from the ongoing monthly storage fee, we made the decision to build a shed in Bev and Kevin’s back yard. Kevin used his excavator to level a spot for it and that was fine the first two days but then it rained. It turned into a mud bog quickly so yesterday was not a fun day with the mud balling up on our boots and creating lots of slip. I’ve been using the air nailer, cut off saw, radial arm saw, table saw, cordless drills and the hand held jig type saw. Lots of toys to play with. I decided to hold off on work today since the forecast is for much drier and warmer for the next few days. I did go and buy roofing materials this afternoon. Those bundles of asphalt shingles sure are a lot heavier than they used to be (back when I was younger!).

The weather sure has left a lot to be desired here.We seem to get one decent day followed by blah or rainy days.We didn’t even make 11C (52F) today but the forecast says 26C on Saturday. It rained all night and this morning there is snow on many of the local mountains. The road restrictions are still on which is far later than normal.Many of the blogs I read have comments about how late Spring is in many parts of Canada and the USA.

Sunview Windows in Summerland called today and said our new bedroom window is ready for pickup.That’s a few days ahead of what they quoted.We’ll have to try and slip down soon to get it as the cross ventilation it will provide will be nice when the temperatures warm up.I will have a go at installing the window myself.We still haven’t solved our oven issue but I do have a new oven control here to install which we hope solves the problem of why the pilot light won’t stay on.

Aileen’s back is still giving her trouble but slowly improving.We hope she gets back to normal soon.I’m having to think about my back when working on projects, too as it is easy to overdo things.I have just about finished waxing the whole motor home which is a rather large venture.Jim has ordered a gallon of ProtectAll which he used on his motor home and it goes on much faster since you don’t have the white film to wipe off after it dries.He has offered to split the gallon with me.I just have to come up with a spray bottle.I’ve enjoyed several soaks in the hot tub but was in for a shock last night when I jumped in.Kevin had turned off the breaker two days ago and forgotten to turn it back on so the water was far from warm.I had lots of sore spots so was really looking forward to soaking. I had to make do with a long shower but it’s just not the same as a whole body immersion.

The pets both had a visit with the vet the other day.Neither one thinks much of that but if they wish to live with us and go south then they need to keep their shots up.Mitzy has lost half a pound since going off junk food.Our daughter Bev, who is a groomer, and the vet have both said the junk food is very harmful.Sophie the cat is still a fat cat but only gained .1kg since her last visit.Mitzy needs to chase her around the motor home more.

Our internet is still very frustrating. I had the air card into the Telus store the other day and she did an upgrade or two but it made no difference to our reception. I think we will have to try getting an antenna and amplifier if I can find a cable for our air card. Telus sells the air card but not the cable for it.